DOJ Database Tracking Law Enforcement Misconduct Shut by Trump Administration
A national database that tracks incidents of misconduct among law enforcement officers is shut down by the Trump Administration.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) says the website hosting the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD) is no longer active and agencies can no longer query or add data to it.
It was decommissioned after President Trump revoked President Biden’s executive order that created the database.
NLEAD had a short life. It was launched in December 2023 as a means for law enforcement agencies to check on whether an officer or a new hire had a documented history of abuse, or of violating department policies or the law. Examples include racial basis or excessive use of force.
The national database encompassed nearly 150,000 federal law enforcement officers. All 90 executive branch agencies with law enforcement officers had provided thousands of disciplinary records.
As of September 2024, there were 4,790 records of federal officer misconduct between 2018 and 2023 in the database, according to a DOJ report. Among those, nearly 1,500 federal officers were either suspended, fired or resigned "while under investigation for serious misconduct," and more than 300 officers were convicted of crimes.
The original goal was to restore trust in law enforcement and promote accountability following the George Floyd death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in 2020.
It was also designed to reduce the problem of so-called “wandering officers” - instances where officers were forced out of one agency because of misconduct and then ended up at another agency who was unaware of the misconduct.
Database Limitations
The database only applied to federal law enforcement officers and its impact on state and local police agencies is unclear.
According to Police1, “Ultimately, the database’s limitations meant it could only serve as a research tool for federal agencies hiring personnel from other federal agencies. State and local officers with a history of misconduct seeking employment in federal agencies would not be identified in the database.”
While the original idea for a database was proposed under the first Trump Administration, it was not acted upon until President Biden signed an executive order establishing it, an order which has now been revoked.
Public Safety Advocates Sound Alarm
Public safety advocates slammed the move.
"It's a reckless and harmful decision and a major step backward for transparency and public safety," said Chiraag Bains, non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution to CBS News.
The White House disagrees.
In an emailed statement to the Washington Post, the White House said, “The Biden executive order creating this database was full of woke, anti-police concepts that make communities less safe like a call for ‘equitable’ policing and addressing ‘systemic racism in our criminal justice system.’ President Trump rescinded the order creating this database on Day 1 because he is committed to giving our brave men and women of law enforcement the tools they need to stop crime.”